HDN: At Long Last
by Symantra
Summary: Now that the Console War is over, the new True Goddess reigns over Celestia and Gamindustri alike.


_**At Long Last**_

* * *

Celestia—world of the gods, axis of the sky, it was a mystical realm. Only a handful of people had ever been to this unattainable realm, but they were no ordinary people. One of them was here right now standing idly on one of the largest floating isles in the wide blue yonder.

The solitary figure of a goddess stood tall under a pavilion of white marble. Unperturbed by the high-speed winds and total absence of solid ground, she peered out over the railing and let her braided hair dangle over oblivion.

In the aether below, the strongest winds of the world tore wispy fragments from the cumulus blanket and scattered them everywhere. The realm far above Gamindustri was characterized by a perpetual ocean of clouds that stretched onward in every direction farther than the naked eye could see. Despite being so close to the sun, because of the constant zephyrs the air was much cooler than it was anywhere on the surface world.

Celestia was the sky's archipelago, a gravity-defying chain of islands linked by bridges and teleporters. Some pieces of the land hovered at distances of up to a hundred meters apart. Most of the islets were devoid of structures. Where there could have been palaces, gardens, and shrines, there were only trees, lakes, and rocks. An exception was the island upon which the goddess was standing. It was much larger than the surrounding landmasses, and it levitated the highest out of all of them. Built on top of this central island, the marble edifice was the cynosure of heaven.

"It's quiet," the figure remarked as if she were speaking to someone else. Her only interlocuter, the sky, said nothing. The wind picked up, and the clouds shifted and rolled over one another as they always did. "I wonder if this is how all of Celestia was like before the war..."

Again, she got no response. Gazing out over the cloud strata, the goddess dug a greaved foot into the soil on the verge of the island. Dirt tumbled off the ledge into the clouds below, and before long it was caught by the breeze and whisked away into the open air. She nudged the ground again and sent another clump of dirt to the same fate.

Bored, she turned away and walked to the middle of the pavilion where there was a table and a single chair. She took her seat primly. A tempting spread of cakes and desserts were arranged around the centerpiece, a ceramic-potted sapling with a gnarled trunk and reaching branches with tightly packed leaves. From where she was sitting, she only had to peek around the meditative tree to have a view of all the islands around her. It was a picturesque scene from a fantasy dream, to be able to enjoy sweets and tea with such a divine view of this paradisal skyscape. Celestia truly was an idyll of peace and perfection.

But the best part, if she were to be so bold, laid in the fact that this sight was reserved for her and her alone. She panned her head, taking in a three hundred and sixty degree view of the skyline. This was the promised land, and it belonged solely to her.

The True Goddess, for that was the title which she had earned, leaned forward and scanned the assortment of confectionery, but nothing caught her eye. Yet, the vast array of food in front of her would go to waste if she did not eat. She opted to lean across the table and pick up a plate, careful not to tip it over.

Setting her treat down, she took a moment to admire its perfefction. A crème caramel of the finest caliber, it featured a raspberry and a sprig of mint atop a base of creamy flan. The craftsmanship of this single dessert showed a high degree of artisanal mastery.

Never one to spend more time observing her food than eating it, she picked up a spoon and dug in. Even though the flan looked almost artificially glacé, it barely left a film on her tongue. But as for the flavor...

"It's like drinking ethylic alcohol with a spoonful of sugar," she admitted after forcing it down. Too much of this would put her on the fringe of visiting Valhalla before her time was up.

Unfortunately she did not have much of a stomach for sweets, so she was glad that the pudding tasted more of liquor than of sugar. A sweet tooth was an aspect of her personality exclusive to her human form, which she had not used for a very long time. Because of the Console War and the persistance of her rivals, she had kept Hard Drive Divinity active indefinitely. Undoing her transformation at any time would have given her enemies an opportunity to strike while she was more naive and much less powerful.

There was a serious shift in her personality between human and Heart form. The stark contrast at which her disposition changed after transforming was an astronomical conundrum. Finding something enjoyable was difficult because she had different tastes in food and entertainment depending on her current state. As a goddess she had an acquired taste for foods which were refined and balanced, and she loved the thrill of combat and healthy competition. On the other hand, as a human her mannerisms were negligent and easygoing, her way of speech was way more colloquial, and her idea of a good time was kicking back with food and games. She lost her temperance and instead preferred to eat things which she would normally consider overwhelmingly sweet. She was the polar opposite of herself.

Her gaze narrowed at the wiggling yellow dessert. She glared at it for a few moments, and a discontent growl rose in the back of her throat. In spite of her triumph in the war, in spite of her supremacy over the known world, in spite of her prowess and capability, she had been cursed with mismatching personalities.

Half a minute passed before the reality of her situation hit her like a pie to the face.

"What am I even doing?" she grumbled and leaned back in her seat. She, Purple Heart, the proven True Goddess of Gamindustri, was staring down a dessert. It quivered before her in fear.

She sighed and forced herself to take another bite of the cold, ridiculously sweet pudding. Shortly after, she dropped her spoon in defeat.

"This is no good," she complained aloud. "But if I transform, perhaps..."

Her voice became more thoughtful. Purple Heart pushed herself away from the table, and the legs of her chair scraped against the stones. She was reluctant to relinquish control to her parallel, for Neptune of Planeptune acted like a fool on most days. Normally, to be held accountable for the actions of a fool was the last thing she wanted to deal with.

Even though they were two parts of the same whole, Purple Heart and Neptune were more like two different people with different bodies sharing the same state of being. It was complicated.

The True Goddess looked up at the roof of the gazebo. A dome of silvery iron beams latticed the roof, crisscrossing in intricate patterns while still allowing a view of the sky. It let the light in as well as the rain, but the possibilities of rainbow above the cloud layer were zero. All the clouds except for a few small stragglers accumulated below the islands, and only by unnatural means would they ever rise high enough to shower the sky isles.

The breeze picked up again and rushed past her. Because there was nothing to obstruct the air currents this high up, the winds were cold and almost tangible. They grazed the bare skin of her midriff, making her shiver. In tilting her head back to admire the sky, she had left her neck and stomach completely open—not that her processor unit made an effort to cover up in the first place. As if to hide herself, from whom she did not know, the goddess pitched forward and coughed, crossed her arms tight in front of her body. Contender and victor of the Console War, her idea of orthodoxy was strict and did not involve revealing herself. Her body was the vessel for her spirit and the tool for her aspirations, but she had never thought of it as a simple object regardless of the fact that her figure was adored and envied by many.

Such was the issue with being a goddess: Appearances mattered. Her image in the public eye meant everything. In order to survive as a divinity in this dimension, one had to have an incorruptible personality. That was why the three other goddesses had casual blogs to showcase their own amenities. Her life was literally dependent on a popularity contest. The only thing was, unlike a schoolgirl she had bigger goals than finding a prom date.

To dismount her embarrassment, she reached for a sugar cookie from the table and bit into it. No more than half a day had passed since she had ascended to the position of True Goddess, and she was already losing her mind over it.

Not even a day ago had she defeated her opponents once and for all. At that time, the world had gone quiet. It had been like the skies were acknowledging her victory. As she had lowered her sword, breathing heavily, everything had stilled. The winds never died down, but there had been absolutely no noise. At that moment, she had discovered peace. She had never realized, being so caught up in battle and in war, just how nice it was up here.

Purple Heart finished off the rest of her snack and brushed the crumbs from her fingers. Given the choice, she would gladly live out the rest of her existence in Celestia. But for a brief moment, something occurred to her: What else was there to do up here? True Goddess was no more than a title. Prestigious as it was, it was nothing she could enjoy. There was food and open air, but what else was there to keep her occupied?

A shadow crossed her face. For how long would she view her charmed life above the clouds through rosy lenses? Eventually, her food would lose its flavor and soaring through the air would no longer make her feel free. Time would turn into a lazy snake, coiled and uninterested in its surroundings.

She could not stay here. One day, her eternal vacation in paradise would end and she would return to the surface world. When that day came, she would be tested for the qualities of a paragon which the True Goddess needed possess, and should she have fallen to decadence then there would be consequences.

But that was heavy talk. Why so serious? Of course she had no intention of letting her newfound authority rush to her head. At the same time, it would do no harm to indulge in innocent luxuries for a little while. So long as she never lost track of her ideals, she could afford to have some fun just this once.

The centerpiece of her processor unit began to glow, and a beam of white light burst from her chest to surround her like a beacon. A second later, the light waned and her vision returned to normal.

"Oh, this is a lot better. Wow, all this food and I've barely even eaten! I can be so wishy-washy sometimes."

Hands no longer gloved in armor, Neptune found that it was much easier to treat herself to the snacks she had rightfully earned. The pointed fingertips of her processor unit made it hard to pick up anything small and not designed to be used as a weapon.

Now that her alter ego was taking a nap, the goddess piled a plate high with cookies, cakes, and everything else within arm's reach. Here was a rare chance for her to eat her fill. Once she reactivated HDD, there was no telling how long it would be until she had another opportunity like this.

For a while, she busied herself with the reward set out for her. There was plenty to eat, and she was the only person to do the job. Four plates were stacked each with castellas, manjū, chocolates, and puddings. It would be a superhuman feat to eat everything, but at the very least she could sample it all.

"Wish I had someone to share it with though. No way I'm gonna finish this all by myself..."

And there were her thoughts, laid out on a silver platter. Surprised at her own outburst, Neptune stared at her personal buffet table. Was that really what she wanted: just someone to eat with? No, if that were the case then Histoire could have done that job for her. But Histoire was a meek girl, servile and mostly a stickler for formalities. The poor thing would only feel uncomfortable if Neptune told her to sit down and relax.

The goddess sighed and took a bite out of a castella. Inside was a block of red bean jelly which gave the sponge cake a bit more texture and sweetness. Normally eating was a pleasure in and out of itself, but now there was an unliftable feeling of languor about the table. After entertaining such weighty thoughts, she found it impossible to look at the banquet without seeing the negative light. Every bite felt like a sin, every minute sitting felt like a minute wasting, and every cake felt like a lie. Suddenly she was struck full with guilt.

As if turning tail from an enemy, she jumped to her feet and ran out of the pavilion. She kept running until she was on the brink of falling off the island, but her body had already transformed into that of Purple Heart's, divine and mature in the right places. A pair of pellucid purple wings sprang from the back of her processor unit. With the right amount of flair and grace, she twisted her body midair and picked up from a steep drop seconds before she nosedived through the clouds. Letting her momentum carry her to a safe elevation, she continued to glide away from the island.

On the outskirts of the empyrean realm, there was a small island with a single tree, its leaves making a canopy wider than the island itself. It was a shaded and secluded spot, away even from the natural quiet of Celestia. Purple Heart looked over her shoulder. The seraphic mabrle pavilion was but a faraway dot in the sky.

Her wings dematerialized as she landed. After standing still and just breathing for a few seconds, she walked up to the tree and laid a hand on its knotted trunk. The ground was grassy and uneven by the oak's great roots, which crept outward from the base of the stump and clustered around the tree.

"What a place this is. As if it could get any more peaceful..."

Purple Heart sat down where she was. She swept her bangs to the side, taking care to close her hand as she did so. Once, the pointed fingertips of her gauntlets had cut a thin red line into her forehead when she had absently pushed her hair aside. Another time, during the midst of battle, they had nearly taken out her own eye when she rubbed away some monster blood.

The claws had never done her any good either. Unarmed combat was beyond her forté. What need was there for a fistfight or a catfight when she had a weapon at her disposal?

At ease, she leaned up against the trunk. When life slowed down and left her with a dearth of things to do, she found that she often had an excess of spare time. All of that time she spent idly, watching the clouds go by or the people of Planeptune go about their daily lives. From her vantage point atop Planeptower, she was always able to see the plaza directly in front of the Basilicom. Its clean design and centrality in the city made it a popular spot for people to meet up and hang out.

On those days when she stood on the balcony for hours watching her people walk around far below, she liked to imagine her life if she had been born one of them. It would have ended many years ago, seeing as she had existed for over a century, but there was a reason for everything.

Would her appearance at twenty years of age line up with how she looked now? A human body needed to mature, so there were several stages of development she had missed: either her goddess form, Purple Heart, as a child or her human form, Neptune, as an adult. It was oddly amusing to imagine how she would have looked.

But beyond her physical appearance, her very life would change. Being a CPU left no time for having a personal life, but what if had not been born a CPU? She would have school, clubs, and hobbies. She would have a family, friends, and maybe a lover. She would actually be able to play the games that she never had the time to play otherwise. She would still be the same individual, except she would be able to pick her own path.

Purple Heart tended to lose herself in daydreams. Absorbed in thought, she often failed to notice the setting sun or the dying wind. As the people in the plaza began to depart for their homes, she usually did not notice until she could count them on one hand.

The True Goddess wore responsibility like a guise. It was the cloak that hid her fires so none could see her black and deep desires. Who she was and who she wanted to be had little in common. The things she had to do versus the things she wanted to do were complete opposites.

She did not want to defeat her enemies, she wanted to make friends. Rather than fight to survive, she wanted to live. Instead of being charged with ruling the world, she wanted to enjoy the utopia she herself had strived to create.

She put her hands behind her back. Her hand touched a root of the great tree which had cradled her while she watched the horizon redden.

There was something that she had never experienced before, something that was so ordinary among the citizens of her own city that to them it was almost blasé: a circle of friends so tight-knit that they were practically inseparable. Any standard individual could find themselves a group to mingle with, yet for Lady Purple Heart the task was trickier. Associating herself with the common people was impossible, what with her status as the goddess. Even if she acted like it was no big deal, her presence drew attention, wariness, reverence. On top of everything, her relationships could not last. While she was immortal, her people were not; they would come and go, but she was here to stay.

However, she had known a human once: a thoughtful, business-minded man who had come from overseas and incidentally found a job selling games to his homeland. At the time, Planeptune had been little more than a settlement built around an old arcade. When Purple Heart had met him, he had been whittling his time away at a slot machine. His eyes had been so focused and unerringly fixed to the rolling slots that she had faltered in her step and stopped to ask him if something was amiss. But as it had turned out, the fire in his eyes had been more than a gambling addiction. He had discovered potential inside the retro arcade complex, and drawing from his experiences he had aspired to create something new. All he had needed was a helping hand.

Together they had turned Planeptune on its head. They had reinvented the video game, defined the research-and-development team, and transformed an arcade into a metropolis. It was thanks to him that Planeptune was the roaring success it was to this today. Purple Heart could still picture him working at his desk in the Basilicom. It would be covered from front to back with blueprints, sketches, and outlines. Whenever she would visit him in the evenings, he would show her his latest idea so that they could bounce ideas off of one another.

But one day, she had walked into his office to find that all of his papers had been stacked neatly. His shelves had been cleaned, and the books that had always been strewed across the floor had been lined up on the bookcase.

 _"I'm going back home for a while,"_ he had told her. _"So I can be with my family."_

In the end she had never seen him again, but a piece of his being still remained in Planeptune. It was ingrained into the very foundation of this city, every game, and every person who lived here.

Purple Heart smiled, and her smile grew. Before long, she was chuckling to herself as if she were reliving a good memory.

That was where she had gone wrong in her frenzy to win the Console War. That was where all of them had gone wrong. Remembering him had reminded her of the reason Planeptune had been able to grow in the first place, the reason why it was possible to move forward and make progress. It was because of energy. It was because of positivity, potential, and the drive to turn potential into reality. He had seen the possibilities and turned the "could be" into the "is".

What went to say that she could not do the same herself? To completely change the world, it was within her power.

She was about to do something outrageous, something that would change not only Planeptune but all of Gamindustri.

The goddess got up and walked to the edge of the island. The wind picked up and nearly pushed her back down, but she stood firm. Overlooking the endless sea of clouds before her, she closed her eyes and tried to see.

What would it be like, a life surrounded by friends and allies, A life where she had people to watch her back, party up with her, and share in each other's victories?

An image appeared in her mind. It was of four people—herself and the three others she knew best: purple, black, white, and green.

With a smile on her face, she opened her eyes and committed to what she was about to do. This was a declaration to the world. This was her saying that change was possible so long as someone had the courage to do it. But more specifically, it was to show those three that there was something she wanted too, and it was something only they could achieve together.

The True Goddess deactivated her Hard Drive Divinity. As the share energy left her body and returned her to her regular form, she took a step forward into the air. Suddenly the wind was ten times stronger, and seconds later she plunged headfirst into the clouds.

 _Gamindustri, my name is Neptune!_


End file.
